Offshore oil spill 4 times bigger than thought

Petro Canada has revised its estimates on the size of the oil spill off the southeast coast of Newfoundland. Officials say the spill involved up to 170,000 litres of oil, more than four times the original estimate.

Petro-Canada had said the Sunday morning spill at the Terra Nova offshore oil platform involved 40,000 litres of oil. On Monday afternoon, a company news conference revealed about 1,000 barrels had been tossed into the ocean.

The spill has created a slick about nine kilometres long and one kilometre wide.

The Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board has ordered a suspension of production operations at the platform. It is investigating the incident.